Pages

Friday, July 21, 2017

Kannadatva v/s Hindutva

M. Gautham Machaiah

Karnataka Chief
Minister Siddaramaiah has set the cat among the pigeons by igniting the emotion of Kannada pride in the run up to the 2018 Assembly elections much to the chagrin of
Hindutva and nationalism advocates.

A strong
pro-Kannada, anti-Hindi ‘imperialism’ sentiment fuelled not by traditional
Kannada chauvinists but by well educated, English-speaking corporate
professionals and volunteers has been brewing in the State for sometime now,
and Siddaramaiah has latched himself on to the bandwagon, first subtly and now
boldly. The Chief Minister’s clever move seems to have caught the BJP off-guard
as the “local pride” agenda does not fit into its hyper-nationalism narrative.
At the same time, the newly born Kannada constituency is something the BJP
cannot afford to ignore.

The Chief
Minister has been deftly moving his pawns for over a year now beginning with
the reservation of jobs for Kannadigas in the private sector, followed by a decision
to make Kannada a compulsory language in all schools. When there were protests
against the use of Hindi in Bengaluru Metro, Siddaramaiah saw an opportunity
and declared rather forcefully that he would not allow “Hindi Imposition” at
any cost, in contrast to BJP’s befuddled response. His most audacious move to
date was the setting up of a committee to explore the possibility of a separate flag
for Karnataka.

This has left
the ‘nationalists’ fuming, but the Kannada brigade is thrilled. While
nationalists are in favour of one-nation-one-flag, others cite the example of
several federal countries which continue to remain united though each State has
its own flag. The challenge before the BJP now is to arrive at a via media to
guard its nationalistic flavour without hurting local sentiments.

The BJP might
have suffered a set back over the Kannada issue, but it has already begun consolidating
itself in other areas. The ‘vistarak’ (direct contact with workers) programme
is a huge success and party has gained an edge over the Congress when it comes
to ground level campaigning. The Congress may have to quickly get its act
together, because emotive issues alone cannot turn the tide in its favour.

As of now, the
Chief Minister seems to have driven a wedge through the Hindutva / nationalist
camp by carving out a niche for himself. Is this niche big enough to make an
impact during the polls? Is it sustainable? Is it just a fume that will soon
evaporate or will it hover over the horizon until the elections? Answers to
these questions will be known only in 2018.